This website and its contents were created by The Lewin Group and TASH under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Community Living (ACL), Administration on Disabilities (AoD), contract GS-00F-053GA; 75P00125F80134. Documents on this website are being reviewed and updated as necessary to comply with President Trump’s executive orders.

On-Demand TA Requests

For accessibility options, click the icon in the right-hand corner:

On-Demand TA Requests
Toggle Side Panel
Close search

RISE e-Learning Communities

RISE e-Learning Communities

Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence

The Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) peer-learning communities are time-limited, results-oriented workgroups of AoD grantees on a specific topic related to strengthen grantees’ efforts to improve CIE and economic advancement of people with disabilities. Check out the latest RISE peer-learning communities offered, eligible AoD grantees, goals and timelines.

Upcoming and Current RISE e-Learning Communities

2026

The Lean Advantage: Redesigning Work Through Customized Employment 

Learn more here: Apply Today! The Lean Advantage: Redesigning Work Through Customized Employment RISE Community

 

Apply Here by Friday, June 19, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)

 

Description:

Join DETAC Strategic Advisor and TransCen, Inc. President Dr. Laura Owens for this action-oriented, results-focused RISE community for Administration on Disabilities (AoD) grantees. Participants will put Lean strategies to work to strengthen customized employment and improve employer engagement. Lean strategies are practical process improvements focused on creating value and reducing waste. The goal is to drive scalable, efficient approaches to achieving competitive, integrated employment (CIE) outcomes. Through interactive virtual sessions and action assignments, participants will build capacity to implement person-centered, customized employment strategies that position employment as a business-driven problem-solving approach—not simply job placement.

 

Participants will also center employer-defined value to identify and address unmet business needs to create CIE opportunities aligned with job seeker strengths. Lean strategies will be applied in a continuous learning cycle (learn → apply → bring back → refine) so participants can increase efficiency and scale high-quality practices. As a result, grantees will deepen employer engagement and contribute to measurable improvements in employment outcomes including increased CIE, improved job quality, and greater economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities. 

 

Availability: All AoD Grantees 

This community is for AoD grantee staff and leaders ready to put Lean strategies into practice in their current roles. Participants may be new to this work or experienced –what matters most is a commitment to apply and refine learnings from each session, and bring results and challenges back to the group each week for shared learning.

The AoD Grantees eligible to participate in this community are listed below:

  • Federally-funded Centers for Independent Living (CIL)
  • State Councils on Developmental Disabilities (Council)
  • State Protection and Advocacy Systems (P&A)
  • University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)
  • Traumatic Brain Injury State Partnership Program Grantees (TBI-SPP)
  • Projects of National Significance, Community Collaborations for Employment (PNS-CCE)

Past RISE e-Learning Communities

2026

Scaling Programs Through Funding Diversification and Partnership Development 

 

Description: As trusted disability-led, community-based organizations, CILs play a vital role in advancing competitive, integrated employment (CIE). CILs provide services, supports, and community connections to support jobseekers with disabilities prepare for, obtain, and thrive in the workforce. This action‑oriented learning community will equip CILs with increased knowledge and capacity to develop, sustain, and scale employment programs, while navigating an evolving landscape for funding and partnerships. Participants will build skills in business development and communicating their value/impact to prospective partners by hearing first-hand about approaches and lessons learned from high‑impact CIL peers. The community will explore practical, replicable models to position organizations to scale partnerships and expand capacity to offer sustainable employment services and supports. CILs will also take steps toward a set goal to build or scale their own new partnership or funding stream by participating in facilitated workshops and completing brief pre-work assignments between certain sessions.

 

Availability: Open to CILs

2025

Using Data to Set Employment Goals/Objectives and Measure Outcomes

 

Description: The purpose of this community was to offer State Councils on Developmental Disabilities (DD Councils) an opportunity to brainstorm, develop, and solidify employment goals or objectives for the development of their next round of state plans. During the sessions, Councils revisited key concepts underlying CIE, learned about disability employment data sources that may help them justify the need for these goals and objectives, reflected on past strategies and lessons learned for advancing employment goals in their states/territories, heard from DD Councils who have made progress on employment, and connected with other Councils to share ideas and troubleshoot challenges. Over the course of the community, participants developed draft employment goals or objectives for potential consideration by their DD Councils for inclusion in their state plans and identified actionable strategies for advancing CIE for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

Availability: Open to DD Councils

Maximizing Resourcefulness – Extended Supported Employment Solutions (mini-RISE)

 

Description: This mini-RISE highlighted potential solutions and strategies to fulfill long-term, extended service needs for people with brain injury and I/DD following the provision of supported employment, including:

  • Details on benefits of supported employment through Home and Community-Based Services waivers for people with brain injury or I/DD;
  • Options in the absence of waiver-funded supported employment;
  • New ways of thinking about Social Security Administration – Employment Networks and benefits planners;
  • State-funded models for long-term, extended services

Availability: Open to TBI Grantees and P&As

The Past, Present, and Future of Centers for Independent Living (CILs) Facilitating Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS)

 

Description: Given the high-demand for and high degree of participant satisfaction with the 2024 Cohorts 1 and 2 of DETAC’s The Past, Present, and Future of CILs Facilitating Pre-ETS RISE community with Able South Carolina, DETAC offered another cohort of this community in 2025, after confirming with national CIL associations that Pre-ETS continued to be a hot topic for CILs and an area of need.

 

Availability: Open to CILs

2024

Strategies to Phase-Out 14(c)

 

Description: During October 2023 through January 2024, the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) facilitated the Strategies to Phase-Out 14(c) Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) peer e-learning community for the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC). Community participants included five Centers for Independent Living (CILs), 14 State Councils on Developmental Disabilities (DD Councils), five State Protection & Advocacy Entities (P&As), six University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), and one Project of National Significance, Community Collaborations for Employment (PNS CCE) grantee. The goal of this group was to share actionable strategies and facilitate peer-to-peer discussion on ending segregated employment and subminimum wage for people with disabilities under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) prioritizes competitive integrated employment in which people with disabilities are paid comparable wages to their co-workers without disabilities in an integrated work setting. Through presentations from subject matter experts and facilitated discussions, participants developed strategies they could apply in their communities to advocate for systems change.

 

Availability: Open to all grantees

 

Beyond Limits: Personal Journeys Toward Employment Success

 

Description: From January through June 2024, the Washington Initiative for Supported Employment (Wise) facilitated the Beyond Limits: Personal Journeys Towards Employment Success Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) peer e-learning community for the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC). This series offered a platform for self-advocates to share their employment journeys, providing valuable insights to AoD grantees around unique challenges they faced, lessons they learned, and accomplishments they achieved while navigating systemic barriers. To broaden the reach of this community, we’re excited to share this one-pager with a summary of the community, links to all session recordings, examples of actions you can take to advance employment and self-advocacy.

 

Availability: Open to all grantees

 

Peer Support for Centers for Independent Living (CILs) Building Employment Services

 

Description: From February through August 2024, Dr. Lidia Fonseca from the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL), Valley Association for Independent Living (VAIL), and the Texas Association of Centers for Independent Living (TEXCIL), facilitated the Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC) Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) e-Learning community, Peer Support for CILs Building Employment Services. To broaden the reach of this community, we’re excited to share this one-pager with a summary of the community, links to all session recordings, examples of actions participants are taking to build employment services at their CILs, and related resources.

 

Availability: Open to CILs

 

The Past, Present and Future of CILs Facilitating Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) (Cohorts 1 & 2)

 

Description: From May through August 2024, Able South Carolina (Able SC) facilitated two cohorts of the Past, Present, and Future of Centers for Independent Living (CILs) Facilitating Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) peer e-learning community, for the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC). The purpose of the community was to provide CILs supporting the employment outcomes of youth with disabilities with an overview of Pre-ETS, lessons learned from other CILs, and considerations for student engagement in Pre-ETS planning and implementation. Centers for Independent Living play a pivotal role in assisting individuals with disabilities in every aspect of community living including providing support obtaining employment opportunities. To broaden the reach of this community, we’re excited to share this one-pager with a summary of the community, links to all session recordings, and examples of actions you can take to facilitate Pre-ETS.

 

Availability: Open to CILs

 

Bring Your Device: Tech Training

 

Description: Between January to May 2024, Jennifer White and Andrew McQuaide of Able Opportunities Inc. facilitated the Bring Your Device: Tech Training Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) peer e-learning community for the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC). To broaden the reach of this community, we’re excited to share this one-pager with a summary of the community, links to all session recordings, examples of actions participants are taking to integrate assistive technology, and related resources.

 

Availability: Open to all grantees

 

Show Me the Money! Accessing Medicaid Administrative Claiming for Brain Injury Services and Supports

 

Description: From June to August 2024, the Administration on Disabilities (AoD) Disability Employment Technical Assistance Center (DETAC) partnered with the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA) to offer the Show Me the Money! Accessing Medicaid Administrative Claiming (MAC) for Brain Injury Services and Supports Results and Innovation in Systems Excellence (RISE) e-learning community. This community centered on breaking down the components of MAC to help states develop the groundwork necessary to implement administrative claiming or expand existing claiming. With presentations by guest speakers from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska, and HCBS Strategies, Inc., facilitators provided guidance on establishing connections and initiating communications for the exploration of MAC funds over the course of this four-session, action-oriented series for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) State Partnership Program grantees.

 

Availability: Open to TBI Grantees

Report

Harassment or bullying behavior
Contains mature or sensitive content
Contains misleading or false information
Contains abusive or derogatory content
Contains spam, fake content or potential malware

Block Member?

Please confirm you want to block this member.

You will no longer be able to:

  • See blocked member's posts
  • Mention this member in posts
  • Invite this member to groups
  • Message this member
  • Add this member as a connection

Please note: This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin. Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.

Report

You have already reported this .